Anwar Hussain joined the party in 2005 after being impressed by Rahul Gandhi, who had visited Gorakhpur that year to attend a Youth Congress meeting at a university in Gorakhpur.

For the 2014 general elections, when BJP launched ‘chai pe charcha’ as a poll campaign strategy for its then prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, a 30-year-old Congress leader in Gorakhpur devised a unique way to counter ‘Modi tea’ campaign by distributing ‘Rahul Milk’.

“All these years we have worked to establish Rahul as a brand. I have met him personally. He told me that Congress party needed youth like me,” said Anwar on Saturday.

“My plan now, after Rahulji’s elevation, will be to strengthen the Congress by getting more and more young men and women to join the party. He (Rahul) is very popular among youth,” said Anwar, who began his political career as a student leader.

Anwar joined the party in 2005 after being impressed by Rahul Gandhi, who had visited Gorakhpur that year to attend a Youth Congress meeting at a university in Gorakhpur.

His unique initiatives to promote ‘Brand Rahul’ has been garnering media limelight in the region for a long time.

The ‘Rahul Milk’ campaign got him coverage in national dailies. In 2015, he led a campaign during which Congress members made an emotional appeal to elevate Rahul Gandhi as the party president by writing letters with blood to the central leadership.

He was also in the news when he projected Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav as “Karan Arjun ki Jodi” during the UP assembly elections earlier this year. During that time, he had also distributed ‘Rahul Rose’ to voters with an appeal to vote for the Congress.

The master’s degree holder from DDU Gorakhpur University distributed ‘Rahul herbal tea’ in November 2016, after reports surfaced that people were fainting while waiting in bank queues. He sold ‘Rahul onion’ at Rs 5 per kilos when onion prices soared some time back.

Due to his unique promotional activities, Anwar was recently made the district general secretary.

He has also set up a picture gallery of Rahul Gandhi in his apartment. His coffee mug, too, has a picture of the new Congress president on it.

“Leaders like Anwar have been working hard to promote Congress through their unique initiatives. Now when Rahulji has called for making Congress a ‘grand old young party’, such leaders will surely help revive Congress here,” said Surheeta Kareem, a Congress party member said.